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Pelastus
Pelastus is a Christian metal band originating in Ukhta, Uralica. The band is also the highest-selling non-classical act in Uralican history and the highest-selling Christian act in Robertian history. Their sound has been described as "thrash/death metal with a dash of cyber-metal for colour" because of the fact that they have a keyboardist. Some also include power metal in trying to define their sound, but this is one the band members themselves shrug off. Current Membership *Matti Pitkänen (b. 14 July 1985, Lappeenranta) - rhythm guitar, lead vocalist *Lauri Sinisalo (b. 2 December 1985, Seinäjoki) - lead guitar *Tanne Kangur (b. 24 March 1984, Pärnu) - bass guitar, backing vocals *Samppa Niskanen (b. 31 July 1986, Joensuu) - keyboards, programming, backing vocals *Jarno Mäkelä (b. 9 May 1984, Rovaniemi) - drums and percussion History All children of early members of the Uralicist movement, Pelastus was actually formed before Uralica was a nation, as they had all already moved to the city of Ukhta as part of the pre-Uralican rush towards that particular area. All Christians (and part of the growing Uralic Evangelical Baptist Movement for that matter), they met in First Baptist Church of Ukhta the first Sunday they were there (in early December 2007) and eventually became part of the church's worship team, but also got permission to use the building as a practice venue for music that would perhaps be a bit brutal for a church setting but would maintain the Christian principles of what they did on Sundays. After two months, Pelastus (Finnish for "redemption") was born. At first, Niskanen was only a guest keyboardist from time to time, but he also was considered a member because he did the sound management for the band. However, as time went on and Pelastus earned money from selling out club gig after club gig in Ukhta, Niskanen was invited by the other four to become a full-time keyboardist and programmer for the band, thus defining their current thrash/death metal with "a dash of cyber-metal for colour" sound. In early April 2008, not long after Uralica's official declaration of existence as a nation, Pelastus were invited by nation ruler Jarkko Salomäki to come to Deep Chill Studios in Syktyvkar to record a demo professionally, free of charge. What he heard absolutely amazed him, and he referred them to Life To The Fullest Records, a Christian label that specialised in non-contemporary music. June saw the recording of a self-titled full album since Pelastus had been working on songs since their February convention. In the meantime, they had begun doing gigs all over Uralica, and people loved their music so much that they began begging for recordings to take elsewhere. The time was coming for an explosion into superstardom. Christian metalheads from all over Planet Bob, and even some non-Christian metalheads who loved the sound, flocked to Uralica to hear them. And then the CD hit the shelves. Copies of "Pelastus" sold out faster than the CDs could be printed. The Ukhta quintet soon found themselves millionaires, but they used their money to "further the Kingdom" (in Matti's words) by planting churches, financing church buildings, and donating to the work of the Uralican Emergency Relief and Human Development Corps, only keeping enough to live off of and to buy updated equipment when needed. By the end of 2008, Pelastus was already 4th all-time on the list of Robertian Christian music acts in terms of record sales, and as of mid-2010 they were well ahead of their nearest competition for top spot on this list. Their "completely Biblical yet completely human" lyrical style combined with "brutal, skillful metal music" has been noted as the reason. The songs are predominantly in English, although Finnish and Russian songs are also in the repertoire. Discography Full Albums *July 2008 - Pelastus *March 2009 - The Deconstruction Of Hedonism *March 2010 - Hellfire's Bane Singles *May 2008 - My Salvation (from Pelastus) *July 2008 - Wake Up (from Pelastus) *August 2008 - Pendulum (from Pelastus) *November 2008 - Malicious (from Pelastus) *February 2009 - Blasphemer (from Pelastus) *April 2009 - The HateKilla (from The Deconstruction Of Hedonism) *June 2009 - Hearts of Stone (from The Deconstruction Of Hedonism) *August 2009 - My Debt (from The Deconstruction Of Hedonism) *October 2009 - Living The Truth (from The Deconstruction Of Hedonism) *November 2009 - Deconstruction (from The Deconstruction Of Hedonism) *January 2010 - Spiritual Warfare (from The Deconstruction Of Hedonism) *February 2010 - Devil Be Dead (from Hellfire's Bane) *March 2010 - I Don't Care What You Think (from Hellfire's Bane) *May 2010 - Blood-Drenched Hill (from Hellfire's Bane) *July 2010 - You Don't Really Get It (from Hellfire's Bane) *September 2010 - Faithful And True (from Hellfire's Bane) Inspirations *Matti claims As I Lay Dying's Tim Lambesis, K626, and Jesus Christ as his influences lyrically, while in terms of his vocal technique he names Robb Flynn from Machine Head, Burton C. Bell from Fear Factory, and again, Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying. His guitar-playing is also heavily influenced by Robb Flynn, as well as that of Dino Cazares. *Lauri lists his technique inspirations as Kirk Hammett, Phil Demmel, Robb Flynn, Dave Mustaine, and Alexi Laiho. *Tanne has been compared to Rob Trujillo from Metallica and Adam Duce from Machine Head because of his stage presence. He also lists Byron Stroud as an influence from both a bass and a vocal standpoint. *Samppa lists several classical composers as influences, most notably Frédéric Chopin and Jean Sibelius, but also has "a ton of respect" for Rhys Fulber. Vocally, he lists Josh Gilbert of As I Lay Dying and Pete Loeffler from Chevelle as his inspirations. *Jarno says Dave McClain, Ray Herrera, Gene Hoglan, and Jordan Mancino are his inspirations. Trivia *All five members of the band are BMus students at Uralikan Yliopisto. *Tanne also plays the contrabass and says his favourite classical composer to play is Numminen. He "loves her string quartets, 'coz some of them are actually pretty metal!" *Tanne is also the only member of the band who is not at least part-Finnish. He is a Võru-speaking Estonian. *Matti was named "Uralica's Sexiest Man" in 2008 and again in 2009, and interestingly enough, his girlfriend, Russo-Komi singer/harpist/actress Zuzana Nemtsova, was named "Uralica's Sexiest Woman" in 2008 as well. *Samppa is an operatic tenor, but doesn't sing in the operatic style with Pelastus. *Jarno is a decent soccer player and was once invited to try out for Turan Ukhta. *Lauri likes cross-country skiing in the winter. Category:Music In Uralica